Mae Jemison

“When you have teachers saying, 'I don't have enough time for hands-on activities,' we need to rethink the way we do education.”

“The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin even, or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.”

“Timidity does not inspire bold acts.”

“I've gotten this advice at different times, and it distills down to one word: purpose. Why are you here? When you start to get distracted by thoughts such as 'Do I fit in? Does this person like me?' - remember why you're there and what you want to accomplish.”

“The really wonderful thing that happened to me when I was in space was this feeling of belonging to the entire universe.”

“I'm not somebody who gets teared up or anything, but I still look up at the stars, and it gives me hope, and it gives me energy. I think one of the things that we have to think about it is, we are all a part of this universe.”

“What I'm very concerned about is how do we bolster our self-awareness as humans, as biological organisms?”

“I had great mentors in my parents who always sought to understand the world around them. And they would push me to really think things through.”

“Sometimes people ask me how difficult the astronaut program was, but being in Sierra Leone, being responsible for the health of more than 200 people, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at age 26 - that prepared me to take on a lot of different challenges.”

“I was thinking as a little girl growing up that I would be there. When I look at whether we can go to Mars, it's definitely something we can do.”

“I was a science fiction geek. That lets you know that they come in all sizes and styles, right?”

“I went to school at night in L.A. to brush up on my engineering while I applied to the astronaut program. I really did not know if I would get in. It was the year after the Challenger accident in 1987.”

“People like space. But they sometimes have been left out. People are much more open to that if you invite them in.”

“There is a fascination with the idea that one has 'seen someone else do something' before one can achieve it. Maybe that's true in some cases, but clearly it is not a requirement. I knew what I wanted to do.”

“In fourth grade, I was interested in all areas of science. I particularly loved learning about how the earth was created.”

“I always knew I'd go to space.”

“One Hundred Year Starship really is about the idea that is we pursue an extraordinary tomorrow; we'll build a better world today.”

“My perspective is the Earth will be here. It just may not be habitable to our life form. We get confused. We think we're the center of everything.”

“A big part of engaging kids in science is not getting the single, correct answer; it's being willing to work with students to discover the correct answer.”